Unrefurbished Pavilions

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Bagels
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Unrefurbished Pavilions

Post by Bagels »

Is the Pavilions off Bayside Drive in Newport Beach (across from Balboa Island) the last unrenovated location? I was surprised to see this location sporting the Vons Lifestyle interior package... I'm wondering the lease is coming up soon, and the location is planned to close?
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Re: Unrefurbished Pavilions

Post by Alpha8472 »

You will find many busy Safeway stores in the San Francisco Bay Area that still have the vintage 2003 or 2004 Lifestyle decors. The Flagship Safeway was unremodeled since Lifestyle until just months ago.

Even busy stores in no danger of closing have been neglected. The stores are literally falling apart with damaged brown Lifestyle floors. The ceilings have mismatched ceiling tiles and ugly led light fixtures.

I even have seen partial remodels. Some stores turned their closed bank branches into floral counters. They added new tiles from the Florida decor, but kept everything else in the old Lifestyle Decor. I think the company is just being cheap.

Why spend money to remodel when you have a monopoly?

Safeway has very little competition in the San Francisco Bay Area. You see Safeway stores all over, and very few cheaper alternatives. You might see a few Trader Joe's or Whole Foods, but Safeway is so dominant. There are no Aldi's, Save A Lot, etc. Winco is an hour away or more from most of the Bay Area.
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Re: Unrefurbished Pavilions

Post by bryceleinan »

Alpha8472 wrote: May 10th, 2022, 5:29 pm You will find many busy Safeway stores in the San Francisco Bay Area that still have the vintage 2003 or 2004 Lifestyle decors. The Flagship Safeway was unremodeled since Lifestyle until just months ago.

Even busy stores in no danger of closing have been neglected. The stores are literally falling apart with damaged brown Lifestyle floors. The ceilings have mismatched ceiling tiles and ugly led light fixtures.

I even have seen partial remodels. Some stores turned their closed bank branches into floral counters. They added new tiles from the Florida decor, but kept everything else in the old Lifestyle Decor. I think the company is just being cheap.

Why spend money to remodel when you have a monopoly?

Safeway has very little competition in the San Francisco Bay Area. You see Safeway stores all over, and very few cheaper alternatives. You might see a few Trader Joe's or Whole Foods, but Safeway is so dominant. There are no Aldi's, Save A Lot, etc. Winco is an hour away or more from most of the Bay Area.
I never realized how dominant Safeway was in the Bay Area until this weekend. I was at a small gathering in Walnut Creek, and the topic of WinCo came up - one of my friends had never heard of them, as he only shops at Safeway, or very rarely at Snob Hill. Also, while I was in Alameda, I realized how much market share Safeway has. Sure, they have a Lucky, Snob Hill, and Grocery Outlet, however, Safeway has three stores in a town with ~80k population. I'm guessing the same thing you did - why remodel?
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Re: Unrefurbished Pavilions

Post by steps »

Many Pavilions stores still have Lifestyle interiors. Culver City, Both Pasadena locations, Melrose and Long Beach just to name a few.
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Re: Unrefurbished Pavilions

Post by Alpha8472 »

The Walnut Creek Nob Hill is closed forever. This forces even more people to shop at Safeway.
Last edited by Alpha8472 on May 10th, 2022, 11:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Unrefurbished Pavilions

Post by storewanderer »

Bagels wrote: May 10th, 2022, 4:45 pm Is the Pavilions off Bayside Drive in Newport Beach (across from Balboa Island) the last unrenovated location? I was surprised to see this location sporting the Vons Lifestyle interior package... I'm wondering the lease is coming up soon, and the location is planned to close?
Long Beach still has that Safeway Lifestyle interior, and is in excellent condition.
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Re: Unrefurbished Pavilions

Post by ClownLoach »

That location was a relo, it was across the street where West Marine is now in a much smaller store that had a boat out front with the old red and purple Pavilions ribbons and was signed Pavilions Place until it closed. I think it was the last Pavilions Place. There was a different store in the new location, I can't remember what but it may have been a Rite Aid, and it was partially demolished for the new Pavilions. I can't name a newer Vons/Pavilions building in Orange County. I don't think it has quite been 10 years since it opened and I also believe it was the last Pavilions to open with lifestyle decor. Between the liquor department selling dramatic volume and the meat department churning out steaks I think it's a safe bet this store isn't going anywhere. Plus there was an independent further down the road into Balboa which was basically put out of business by this store once they moved over. Also parking is tough (if I remember correctly they convinced the city to permit less spaces than normally required per Sq ft. claiming significant customer traffic arriving on foot) so I am not sure they even want to go through remodel construction here until it's absolutely needed and most likely would need to happen in the winter off season.

There is another Pavilions nearby, I believe it is on Bayshore, and that one is small and seems very slow. It does have the new decor but I think it was given it in an attempt to juice up sales. It seems to do a fraction of the Bristol Farms, Gelsons and Whole Foods up the street and does things that probably annoy the very rich folks here such as closing one door around 7pm despite having parking mainly on the sides with a narrow strip up front. It's unlikely that they have a theft problem in this area and they are just following standard LP procedures without any thought as to the impact on the customer.
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Re: Unrefurbished Pavilions

Post by Bluelightspecial »

The store on Bayside was an existing Pavilions that was originally a Safeway. The relocated Pavilion is off Newport Blvd and ironically replaced an Albertsons long before the buyout.
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Re: Unrefurbished Pavilions

Post by Bagels »

Great info... didn't realize how many stores still have the Lifestyles interior.
ClownLoach wrote: May 11th, 2022, 11:02 am That location was a relo, it was across the street where West Marine is now in a much smaller store that had a boat out front with the old red and purple Pavilions ribbons and was signed Pavilions Place until it closed. I think it was the last Pavilions Place. There was a different store in the new location, I can't remember what but it may have been a Rite Aid, and it was partially demolished for the new Pavilions. I can't name a newer Vons/Pavilions building in Orange County. I don't think it has quite been 10 years since it opened and I also believe it was the last Pavilions to open with lifestyle decor. Between the liquor department selling dramatic volume and the meat department churning out steaks I think it's a safe bet this store isn't going anywhere. Plus there was an independent further down the road into Balboa which was basically put out of business by this store once they moved over. Also parking is tough (if I remember correctly they convinced the city to permit less spaces than normally required per Sq ft. claiming significant customer traffic arriving on foot) so I am not sure they even want to go through remodel construction here until it's absolutely needed and most likely would need to happen in the winter off season.

There is another Pavilions nearby, I believe it is on Bayshore, and that one is small and seems very slow. It does have the new decor but I think it was given it in an attempt to juice up sales. It seems to do a fraction of the Bristol Farms, Gelsons and Whole Foods up the street and does things that probably annoy the very rich folks here such as closing one door around 7pm despite having parking mainly on the sides with a narrow strip up front. It's unlikely that they have a theft problem in this area and they are just following standard LP procedures without any thought as to the impact on the customer.
Great info, but I think you're mixing up the store at 3100 Balboa with the 1000 Bayside location. I haven't been in the Balboa location, but as you noted, it's relatively new and appears to have received some interior updates. The 1000 Bayside is probably what you're referring to as the "slow" store. It appears to have been built in the mid-1980s, and hasn't received any recent updates. It lacked all of the floral, deli & bakery items that usually distinguish Pavilions, and featured a Vons-type product instead.

There's two other Pavilions in Newport Beach (four total) -- one off San Miguel and the other off Newport Coast. Both received the updated decor package, although the Newport Coast location (which has the most non-looking Vons/Pavilions interior I've ever seen) was done cheaply and retains much of its previous interior. The San Miguel location is small, and looks like a 60s-build Albertsons, but appears to have been a Ralphs until 2002 or so (per the liquor license detail). Even with the renovation, it's very dark and uninviting.
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Re: Unrefurbished Pavilions

Post by ClownLoach »

Bluelightspecial wrote: May 11th, 2022, 11:21 am The store on Bayside was an existing Pavilions that was originally a Safeway. The relocated Pavilion is off Newport Blvd and ironically replaced an Albertsons long before the buyout.
That's right - was there also a Rite Aid there that was demolished?
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